First: which regulation actually binds you
This is the question that makes a Space Force checklist different from an Air Force one, and it has a clean answer.
Most of it is shared, on purpose. The Space Force sits inside the Department of the Air Force, so the department writes one retirements instruction, one leave instruction and one medical instruction for both services. DAFI 36-3203 says so in its own opening pages: references to Air Force terminology also apply to the Department of the Air Force including the USSF, references to Airmen also apply to Guardians, and references to wings also apply to deltas. Its medical chapter is titled for RegAF, USSF, AFR and ANG together (DAFI 36-3203 ¶6.1). So your application window, your retired-grade rule, your SHPE and your leave rules are the same rules — and a Guardian reading the Air Force versions of those is reading the right document.
SkillBridge is not shared, and this is where people get hurt. The Space Force publishes its own instruction — SPFI 36-2672 (31 March 2026) — and its Table 1 disagrees with the Air Force’s in both directions:
| Your grade | Space Force max (SPFI 36-2672 Table 1) | Air Force max (AFI 36-2671 Table 1) |
|---|---|---|
| E-8 | 120 days | 60 days |
| E-9 | 90 days | 60 days |
| O-4 | 120 days | 90 days |
| O-6 | 90 days | not permitted at all |
Read the last row twice. Under the Air Force instruction an O-6 is barred from SkillBridge outright; under yours, no rank is barred — so a colonel who took the Air Force answer at face value would never have applied. The rows above it go the other way: a Guardian using the Air Force table would ask for 60 days when 120 were available. Close enough was never available here, which is why this page exists.
Each section below is marked with the instruction behind it, so you can tell at a glance which deadlines you share with an Airman and which ones are yours alone.
The application window: 12 to 4 months out DAFI · shared
- Submit your retirement application via myFSS. The window runs from 12 months to 4 months before your retirement date — target the front of it. An approved application is effectively final (DAFI 36-3203 ¶3.11): withdrawing or changing it after approval is an exception process, not a form.
- OCONUS: your DEROS adjustment rides the retirement application — confirm it processed rather than assuming.
- Pick your date with the money in view — retired pay is your High-36 average × 2.5% per year under High-3 (10 U.S.C. §§1407, 1409(b)(1)), so a date that captures a pay raise or a longevity step in the average is worth checking before you file.
- Do not depart on terminal leave or PTDY until your retirement orders are in hand (DAFI 36-3203 ¶3.6). Approved dates are not orders. This one bites Guardians whose SkillBridge start date arrives before their orders do.
TAP: the deadlines that gate everything else DoDI · yours
Your TAP obligations come from DoDI 1332.35 directly. The Air Force’s TAP supplement is written for the Regular Air Force and the Air Reserve Component and does not list the Space Force, so the DoD instruction is the authority to read — and it applies to the Military Departments, which includes you.
- NLT 365 days out: TAP Initial Counseling + DD Form 2648. This is the DoD-wide statutory floor (DoDI 1332.35 §7.2) — and for retirees the same instruction says to start as early as the 24-month mark.
- Then the mandatory components (DoDI 1332.35 ¶5.1.a): DoD Transition Day, the VA Benefits & Services briefing, and a two-day track (Employment / Education / Vocational / Entrepreneurship). Members with 20+ years may be exempt from the DOL employment day — confirm with your M&FRC.
- TAP comes BEFORE your SkillBridge application, not alongside it. SPFI 36-2672 ¶4.1.3 requires the individualized initial counseling, the pre-separation briefing and the required TAP courses to be complete prior to submitting the SkillBridge application. Plan the TAP calendar first, or the application cannot be filed on time.
- NLT 90 days out: Capstone — your commander verifies Career Readiness Standards and your Individual Transition Plan.
SkillBridge under SPFI 36-2672 SPFI · yours alone
This is the section that is not the Air Force’s. Every rule below comes from the Space Force’s own instruction.
How many days you get, and who signs
| Category | Grade | Max training length | Approval authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E-1 to E-5 | 120 days | First field-grade commander with UCMJ authority |
| 2 | E-6 to E-8 | 120 days | First O-6 commander with UCMJ authority |
| 3 | O-1 to O-4 | 120 days | First O-6 commander with UCMJ authority |
| 4 | E-9, O-5 and above | 90 days | General officer in the chain of command |
The approving commander must be able to impose non-judicial punishment under Article 15 in your chain of command, and that authority may not be delegated downward (SPFI 36-2672 ¶4.2.2). If the person signing is not that commander, the approval is not an approval.
There are no warrant-officer rows, because the Space Force has no warrant officers. If a planning tool quotes you a warrant-grade cap, it is reading another service’s table.
The 180-day box everything has to fit inside
Your SkillBridge, any relocation PTDY, and your terminal leave all have to fit inside the final 180 days before your date of separation (SPFI 36-2672 ¶6.4.4.1, ¶4.3.9.4; DoDI 1322.29). Nothing may begin earlier than 180 days out, and ¶6.4.4.1 carries a T-0 tier — meaning it flows from law and DoD policy, so no commander at any level can waive it. Count back 180 days from your DOS and treat that date as a wall.
Two more shape rules sit in the same paragraph pair: you may not end your leave in a SkillBridge PTDY status (¶6.4.4.1), and terminal leave is scheduled at the end of the overall program dates (¶6.4.4.2). Sequence it SkillBridge first, terminal leave last, with the final day of terminal leave landing on your last day of active duty.
One Air Force rule that does NOT apply to you: the Air Force makes reserve members count terminal-leave days against the SkillBridge total, so the two together cannot exceed the Table 1 cap. SPFI 36-2672 contains no equivalent rule for any component — and the Space Force has no separate reserve component for one to attach to. If a checklist tells you your terminal leave eats your SkillBridge days, it is quoting the Air Force’s own AFI 36-2671 ¶6.4.4.2 at you.
Applying, and the deadline people miss
- Complete the AFVEC Virtual Training first (¶6.3), and review the ethics rules on gifts, conflicts of interest and post-government employment (¶4.3.5).
- Apply in AFVEC. Applications may be submitted up to one year before your DOS — but not later than 30 days before the training start date (¶6.4.1). The 30-day floor is the one that catches people, not the one-year ceiling.
- Your supervisor’s, commander’s and any additional reviewer’s email addresses are required on the application for it to route correctly (¶6.4.2). A wrong address is an application sitting still.
- The Memorandum of Participation (MoP) is the approval document. Upload it into LeaveWeb as the PTDY source document, and give copies to your supervisor, your commander and the provider (¶6.5.1.1, ¶4.3.10).
- More than 50 miles away? You may request expedited orders starting 30 days before your final out-processing date (¶4.3.9.3). Local or fully online programs do not qualify.
What it costs you, and what it does not
- You keep full military pay and benefits, and the provider may not pay you anything — no wages, stipends or cash. Ordinary employee perks listed in the MoU are fine; commuting transportation is not (¶3.4).
- SkillBridge is PTDY, so it does not burn your leave balance (¶4.2.9) — and leave keeps accruing at 2.5 days a month throughout (DAFI 36-3003 ¶2.4.1).
- It is not an entitlement. Your commander may deny it, shorten it, or trade SkillBridge days for terminal leave if participation would hit critical readiness (¶4.3.1). Build the case, and keep a fallback plan.
- Your unit does not get a backfill while you are gone (¶4.2.1) — which is usually the real reason behind a denial, and worth addressing head-on in your request.
- You may keep going during terminal leave, and you may accept job offers on it (¶4.3.10.1–4.3.10.2). Past your DOS you simply stop being an official participant; the relationship with the employer does not have to stop with it.
WheelsUp back-plans all of this from your date — with your Table 1 cap, not the Air Force’s. It warns you when the SkillBridge block, relocation PTDY and terminal leave stop fitting inside the 180 days, and puts the SPFI paragraph on the card.
The exception to policy, which is more usable than it sounds
An ETP goes to SF/S1D via AFVEC and can cover any requirement in the instruction marked T-1 (SPFI 36-2672 ¶7.1). Two things make it worth knowing rather than filing away:
- It applies to any rank and can exceed the Table 1 lengths (¶7.2.1). This is the paragraph that means no Guardian is shut out by grade.
- The approval authority may only deny it on readiness grounds — ¶7.2.2 states that requests will only be denied if participation would impact the critical readiness and operational needs of the Space Force. That is a narrower reason to say no than a general no.
Requests need a memorandum with strong justification and commander endorsement (¶7.1.2), and deviations from Table 1 follow the SkillBridge PSDG (¶7.1.1).
If you are in the MEB process you have no official separation date, so an ETP in AFVEC is the required route rather than an optional one: it establishes an expected date, timelines are set within 180 days of the MEB notification date and documented by the FL-4 with medical codes redacted, and the Table 1 lengths still apply if approved (¶7.3–7.3.1). The IDES timeline itself is in our medical separation vs. medical retirement guide.
Officers: the retired-grade trap DAFI · shared
If you pin on a new grade within roughly three years of your retirement date, service-in-grade rules can retire you in the lower grade (DAFI 36-3203 ¶8.2.5). Two things soften it: waivers exist, and the pay impact is smaller than it looks — your High-36 average still includes the months served in the higher grade (DAFI 36-3203 Table 8.1 note). But the grade on your DD-214 is the grade on your DD-214: talk to your FSS before accepting a late promotion or locking a date.
The SHPE window DAFI · shared
DAFI 36-3203 ¶6.1 names the Space Force explicitly: every retiring member must complete a Separation History and Physical Examination unless they are separating after being found unfit for continued service. It must fall within 180 days of retirement AND be complete at least 30 days before departure (¶6.1.2).
That is a narrower window than it sounds once terminal leave is subtracted — if you take 60 days of terminal leave, your last duty day is the real deadline anchor. Book the SHPE the week the 180-day window opens. It also feeds your VA claim, and the VA BDD window (180–90 days out) overlaps it almost exactly.
Note the collision this creates with the section above: your SkillBridge, your relocation PTDY, your terminal leave and your SHPE are all competing for the same final 180 days — and the SHPE is the one that also gates your final out.
Leave and terminal leave DAFI · shared
- Mind the fiscal-year cap — days over the 60-day carry-over are forfeited at the end of the FY (DAFI 36-3003). A terminal-leave plan has to survive every 30 September between now and your date.
- Terminal leave is chargeable leave and its last day coincides with your last day of active duty (DAFI 36-3003 ¶3.2.5) — so for a first-of-the-month retirement, it ends the day before.
- Your unit commander approves it, delegable no lower than the squadron section commander or equivalent, and it may be disapproved for military necessity (DAFI 36-3003 ¶3.2.5.1–3.2.5.3). Request early.
- Relocation PTDY is separate from SkillBridge PTDY and does not cost leave days: up to 20 days CONUS, up to 30 days if you are stationed OCONUS, within 180 days of your date and taken before terminal leave (DAFI 36-3003 Table 4.3 Rule 2). It can run consecutively with SkillBridge (SPFI 36-2672 ¶6.4.4).
- Terminal leave vs. sell-back: sold leave pays basic pay only, with a 60-day career cap (DAFI 36-3003 ¶7.9.2.5); terminal leave keeps pay and allowances running. The full math is in our terminal leave vs. sell-back guide.
- Going on terminal leave or PTDY does not end your assignment — you stay assigned to your unit and your tour is not curtailed (DAFI 36-3203 ¶3.6.1).
Final out DAFI · shared
- Base outprocessing checklist: dental clearance, legal/SJA, equipment, finance — start ~2 weeks before your last duty day.
- Final out requires your MTF clearance recorded (DAFI 36-3203 ¶6.1.3–6.1.4) — the medical step physically gates the personnel step, which is exactly the dependency that bites people who booked the SHPE late.
- SBP election is due by your date and is effectively permanent (10 U.S.C. §1448) — decide before outprocessing week, not during it. See the SBP break-even guide.
- Verify the DD-214 line by line before signing.
Sources
- SPFI 36-2672, SkillBridge Program (31 March 2026) — ¶3.4 (pay, no compensation), ¶4.1.3 (TAP before application), ¶4.2.1 (no backfill), ¶4.2.2 (approval authority, non-delegable), ¶4.2.9 (PTDY status), ¶4.3.1 (not an entitlement), ¶4.3.5 (ethics), ¶4.3.9.3 (50-mile expedited orders), ¶4.3.9.4 + ¶6.4.4.1 (the 180-day window, T-0), ¶4.3.10–4.3.10.2 (MoP in LeaveWeb, terminal-leave participation, job offers), ¶6.3 (AFVEC Virtual Training), ¶6.4.1–6.4.2 (application window and routing), ¶6.4.4–6.4.4.2 (all dates on the application, terminal leave last), ¶6.5.1.1 (MoP), ¶7.1–7.3.1 (ETP, any rank, MEB), Table 1 (rank / training length / approval authority)
- DAFI 36-3203, Service Retirements — ¶3.6 + ¶3.6.1 (orders before departure; assignment continues), ¶3.11 (application window/finality), ¶6.1 (SHPE applies to RegAF, USSF, AFR, ANG), ¶6.1.2 (SHPE window), ¶6.1.3–6.1.4 (final out), ¶8.2.5 + Table 8.1 (retired grade)
- DAFI 36-3003, Military Leave Program — ¶2.4.1 (accrual), ¶3.2.5–3.2.5.3 (terminal leave), Table 4.3 Rule 2 (relocation PTDY), the FY carry-over cap, ¶7.9.2.5 (sell-back career cap)
- DoDI 1332.35 (TAP timeline + components) · DoDI 1322.29 (SkillBridge / JTEST-AI)
- 10 U.S.C. §§1407, 1409 (retired pay), §1448 (SBP)
- Air Force comparison figures: AFI 36-2671 Table 1 — shown only to mark where the two services differ, and never as authority over a Guardian.
Spot an error? Tell us — citations are the product here.
Every deadline above, back-planned from your date. WheelsUp turns this checklist into live countdowns with the SPFI or DAFI citation on each card — the Space Force pack is its own, not the Air Force pack with the names changed.